​Catch up on part 1 of this series here!​

So the busy season is over. Do you:

A) Make a note in your calendar to start marketing again in November? or

B) Keep marketing even now as a way to sustain relationships with your people?

Hopefully after last week's newsletter you picked B. :)

But maybe you're still not sure what to talk about. Or you are still marketing, but nobody's taking any actions right now, so it feels kind of pointless.

Here are two more things I bet Jesus did in the "off season" to keep ministering to His people that we can do in our marketing:

Listen and Relate

Since the Gospels are mostly about what Jesus said and did, we don't see a lot of instances where He is listening (that wouldn't be very riveting reading).

But I imagine He did a whole lot of it.

And when He did, I imagine that Jesus listened. Like really listened. From the heart.

Not to jump in right away, not planning His reply, not distractedly, but purposefully and wholeheartedly.

He soaked in the other person's words, His beloved, with intention, so He could truly help and heal.

I bet people felt deeply known, like Someone was staring into their soul.

This down time can be a great time to do the same in your marketing.

Ask your audience what they're struggling with related to what you do.

Seek out your kind of people in Facebook groups or Reddit threads or other online communities and take note of what they're talking about, struggling with, and sharing.

(Literally, make a note on your computer and copy and paste what they're saying. Then, keep rereading them once a week until you see patterns.)

Create surveys, or even better, ask questions that get people to reply, comment, DM, etc so you can have real conversations, ask for feedback, and really listen.

Remember not just to listen to overall answers, but specifically what they say and how they say it.

That way, you can use their language in your marketing to be relatable and elicit the "wait, have they been in my head?!" feeling.

And that feeling of relatability? It will let down the walls of vulnerability and allow you to actually help them.

Because you're going to use that information to create marketing content that is relevant to what they're experiencing right now.

For example, a toy influencer I follow sent an email in January with 10 tips for toy organization.

Because she knows her people so well, she knows that every parent spends January reorganizing their house to find new homes for all the toys received at Christmas.

Now, the main thing this influencer sells is play-based curricula. And most people aren't typically looking for that in January.

She didn't try to force it out of sync with when people would be looking for it.

And she didn't throw up her hands and say "Oh well, I'll talk to them again in July."

Instead of starting with her product, she started with what her people were likely experiencing right then — toy organization chaos — and then used that as the starting point for marketing content.

Try doing the same: Now that you've listened, start with your people's needs, not what you're trying to have them do.

(And I bet she still generated a profit, because she used affiliate links to various organization tools she uses while being relevant.)

Think through the liturgical season (Lent, Easter, sacrament seasons all approaching!) as well as just the cyclical nature of everyday life that your people are experiencing and ask, How can I help them with that?

Remember, the goal here is relationship, not necessarily direct action. This is how we use our marketing as ministry.

But if you can spin what you offer to meet the current needs your people have, then by all means do that! Make sure to frame it as natural segue from what you're sharing though.

Don't have something relevant? Then try this... ⬇️

Share Others

Jesus wasn't the typical Messiah-claimant of the time.

He didn't save the spotlight all for Himself.

In fact, He spent a lot of His "down time" training others to spread the Good News too.

We should be doing the same in our marketing "down time!"

This is a great season to:

• Build up the Catholic economy by sharing other Catholic small businesses and ministries you love that you want your audience to know about
• Build an affiliate program and train them how to share you with others effectively
• Put time into getting reviews and user-generated content
• Work with influencers
• Share resources from other people, especially affiliate links that help meet the current needs of your people if your own offerings don't

That way, you stay top of mind, help your people, and build relationship — and maybe even generate some profit.

But maybe what you have is really seasonal.

Or people just aren't buying right now.

Next week, meet me back here for the final installment of this series, when we'll take a look at two final things we can do during the marketing "off season" (if you have a ministry mindset when it comes to your work, you'll especially love these!).

But for now, here's your marching orders for this week:

• Set aside 15 minutes this week to really listen to your people
• Pick one way you could share others
• Create one piece of marketing content this week incorporating one of these!

For His greater glory,

Emily

​

​

Speaking of your people's needs... I really liked this article from Stacked Marketer on naming problems. We can sometimes shy away from that in our marketing, thinking it's only going to increase anxiety. But actually, naming the problem can be a relief, helping people feel like they're not alone or crazy with this need. Read article